Then it was that Enok caught sight of him, and gave a hoarse cry; breaking away from the priest, he rushed back towards Levion, knife in hand.
"Enok, Enok!" cried the priest, making after him.
"Here is the thief!" cried Levion, as they came up.
The priest fancied Enok must have gone suddenly demented at sight of the fire. "Put up your knife!" he called out.
Levion went on, "Here's the burglar that stole Mack's money."
"What's that you say?" asked the priest uncomprehendingly.
Enok makes a dash at his opponent, and tries to snatch the packet away.
"Get out! I'm going to hand it over to the priest," cries Levion. "And he can see for himself the sort of helper he's got now."
Enok staggered to a tree; his face was grey. The priest looks blankly at the paper, the kerchief, and the notes; he can make nothing of it all.
"I found it there," says Levion, shaking all over. "He'd hidden it under a stone. There's Mack's name on the paper, you can see."
The priest examined it, growing more and more astounded as he read. "This must be the insurance policy Mack said he had lost, surely?"
"And the money he lost as well," said Levion.
Enok pulled himself together. "Then you must have put it there," he said.
The roar of the forest fire came nearer, the air was growing hotter and hotter about them, but the three men stood still.
"I know nothing about it," said Enok again. "It's just a trick of Levion's, to do me harm."
Said Levion, "Here's two hundred _Daler_. Have I ever had two hundred _Daler_ in my life? And isn't this your kerchief? Isn't it one you've worn over your ears?"
"Yes, isn't that so?" seconded the priest.
The priest was counting over the notes. "There are not two hundred _Daler_ here," he said.
"He's spent some of it, of course," said Levion.
But Enok stood breathing heavily. "I know nothing about it," he said. "But as for you, Levion, you see if I don't remember you for this!"
The priest was utterly at a loss. If Enok were the thief, then Rolandsen had only been making a jest of the letter he had sent him. And what for?
The heat was growing unbearable; the three men moved down towards the water, the fire at their heels. They were forced to get into the boat, and then to push off away from land altogether.